Companies working on projects that involve the use of classified information up to the secret level, normally store these materials in lock bar cabinets, safes and secure areas. When performing a routine security check, security officers would inspect the general area in which a locked cabinet was located and sign a sign-off sheet to show that a particular area had been inspected.
The Defense Investigative Service (DIS) has now mandated physical security inspections of lock bar cabinets used to store classified material up to and including secret materials. To comply with these requirements, it is required that the security personnel document the time and date of the inspections as well as the identity of the inspecting officer. The new Industrial Security Manual (ISM) from DIS also mandates that physical inspection of all lock bar cabinets is required every four hours during non-working hours and while the cabinet was not in use by the custodian. Security policies may also require that all safes and secure areas are to be inspected concurrently with the classified lock bar cabinets on a similar schedule. It is now required that the time, date, location and identity of the inspecting officer be documented for each inspection. The inspection time for a three-story building of approximately 90,000 square feet using the new documentation requirements is approximately 11/2 hours. Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient system for inspecting lock bar cabinets, safes and secure areas while at the same time recording and preserving an accurate and reliable log of the inspections including time, date, inspecting officer, route, location, number of inspections and any incidents that occurred at a particular location.